Amazing! That’s what you say when you encounter something new and exciting. Something different. Something outside the box. That is what creativity is all about. It’s discovering new things. It’s taking an existing item and tweaking it. It’s dreaming up a new idea, writing it down, and taking action to create it. It’s fun to be creative.
The other side of creativity can be depressing. It’s the time when new ideas fail, when people don’t laugh at your jokes, and when you give that speech and someone in the audience falls asleep. Some days it’s tough being a creative.
If you are a creative person, you need to meet three interesting people, that can help you take your creativity to a new level. They can help you when writers block comes or your story doesn’t resonate. They can help you SEE a little farther down the road. I would like to introduce you to…
Nancy Duarte: Have you ever wanted to change the world? Do you have an idea rattling around in your right brain that’s just dying to come out? Do you struggle to share this idea with others? Nancy can help. She has written two books that will help you take your creative ideas and present them to others in a compelling and dynamic way. She can help you make your ideas resonate. Nancy has done extensive research into the science of presentations. She took famous speeches and presentations and graphed them out by audience reaction. This research led her to an Ah Ha moment where she came up with a diagram that explains how story works in a dynamic performance to draw an audience in. Take a look at her TED presentation.
Bob Goff: I met Bob at the Storyline Conference in Portland a few weeks ago. He is a very interesting person, and if you hang around with him for any length of time, he’ll have you engaged in a story. Bob loves to Do things and bring people together. He is a connector. Here is an excerpt from Don Miller’s book, A million miles in a thousand years that explains how Bob thinks.
Bob and the family were sitting around on New Year’s Day when one of the kids mentioned she was bored. Bob agreed and said he thought New Year°s Day was probably one of the more boring days of the year. He asked the kids what they could do to make New Year`s Day less boring. The kids started tossing out ideas, things like buying a pony or building a rocket ship, and then one of the children mentioned they could have a parade. Getting himself out of buying a pony, perhaps, Bob lit up and said a parade sounded great.
So Bob, Maria, and the kids sat around the dining room table and dreamed up what their parade might look like. They could wear costumes and hold balloons, and maybe they would invite their friends to watch. The kids started talking about what kind of costumes they could make, the more elaborate, the better. And Maria began planning a cookout at the end of the parade, in their backyard, and wondered how many people she should prepare for. And the kids started running through the friends and neighbors they would call to invite to watch the parade.
Bob thought about it, though. and realized it’s more Fun to be in a parade than to watch one. So he made a rule: nobody would be allowed to watch the parade. But anybody could participate. So he and the kids walked down their small street
and knocked on doors, explaining to neighbors that they were having a parade, and anybody who wanted could be in the parade but nobody would be allowed to watch. I laughed as I imagined Bob standing on their neighbor’s porch, explaining
that if a parade marched by, please look away. Or join. And surprisingly, plenty of his neighbors agreed to take part. They’d march down the street with Bob`s kids and join the cookout in the Goff’s backyard. New Year`s Day really is the most boring day of the year, after all.
The cool part of this story is what happened next. About a dozen of Bob’s neighbors marched down the street with them and joined them for a BBQ in their backyard. However, the really exciting thing is what has happened since. Over the years the parade became an annual event, and now hundreds of people attend each year. They even choose a parade queen for the event from the local retirement center. This is just a little bit of Bob’s story. You can find out more on his blog.
Jon Acuff: have you ever wanted to quit your job? Are you fed up and ready to turn in your resignation? If so, you need to read Jon’s new book, Quitter, before you do. Jon takes a humorous look at the process of quitting your dead end job and finding your dream job. It’s entertaining, but it also very inspiring.
Jon asks….
Have you ever felt caught between the tension of a day job and a dream job? That gap between what you have to do and what you’d love to do?
I have.
At first I thought I was the only one who felt that way, but then I started to talk to people and realized we’re becoming the “I’m, but” generation. When we talk about what we do for a living we inevitably say, “I’m a teacher, but I want to be an artist.” “I’m a CPA, but I’d love to start my own business.”
“I’m a _____, but I want to be a ______.”
All too often, we hear that dreaming big means you quit your day job, sell everything you own, and move to Guam. But what if there were a different way?
What if you could blow up your dream without blowing up your life?
What if you could go for broke without going broke?
What if you could start today?
What if you already had everything you needed to begin?
Jon’s new book is funny, but it is also dead on with advice. I’m currently going through some job changes and this book offers some great advice on how to get from I’m a… to I want to be…
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The cool thing about all three of these people is you can see them in person at the upcoming Catalyst Conference in Atlanta this coming October. You can find out more about their presentations here. Michael Hyatt will also be presenting and he has a special early-bird offer if you are planning to attend.
